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/ 13 September 2005
"Great Train Robber" Ronnie Biggs would have had little interest in a heist on the train that runs the 40km from the centre of Cape Town to the naval port of Simon’s Town to the south. The restaurant car has been named Biggsy’s Restaurant in honour of the legendary robber and long-time fugitive from English justice.
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/ 13 September 2005
South Africa is well on its way to meeting its Millennium Development Goals, according to the government’s report card released recently. The report will be presented to the United Nations world summit in New York. The country has been doing well in, among other things, decreasing the proportion of poor people higher rates of enrolment in primary schools and eradicating malaria.
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/ 13 September 2005
The major breakthrough for Africa in the United Nations High-Level Panel’s work was the recognition of the role of regional institutions in the context of global peace and security. This process was aided by the insistence of the three Africans on the panel that an exception should be made of an earlier decision that all panel meetings be held only in countries that host the headquarters of UN organisations.
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/ 13 September 2005
The launch of the Mzansi Money Transfer will go some way to meeting the banking needs of lower-income earners who, despite opening Mzansi accounts, are showing a relatively low usage of the product. According to Colin Donian, head of Mzansi at the Banking Association, 1,6-million people have now signed up for the Mzansi bank account.
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/ 13 September 2005
After two years of declaring that anyone with "unofficial" foreign currency was an economic saboteur and an enemy of the state, the Zimbabwe government last month said it would "turn a blind eye" to people buying fuel in hard currency. The government announced that it would be a case of "no questions asked" for people taking advantage of the new arrangement.
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/ 13 September 2005
Bestselling novelist Vikram Seth, author of A Suitable Boy, was sent to Britain at the age of 17. He took up a scholarship in Britain, where he stayed with his Uncle Shanti and his German wife Henny. Later Seth investigated the story of Shanti and Henny, and through letters and interviews reconstructed their extraordinary personal story.
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/ 13 September 2005
Nestled in the heart of Malaysia’s bustling capital, Kuala Lumpur, the Aquaria KLCC caused great excitement when it opened its doors in August to unveil five menacing sand tiger sharks from South Africa in an underwater walkway measuring 90m in length. The rare sharks and the giant turtle are without doubt the aquarium’s main attraction.
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/ 13 September 2005
After the tsunami, the only dilemma most Britons faced about their response was how much they should give. After Hurricane Katrina, many are asking whether they should give anything at all. It’s not hard to see why. ”Charity is cold in the multitude of possessions,” wrote the poet Christopher Smart.
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/ 13 September 2005
Swazi schoolchildren are feeling the brunt of renewed debate over the Swaziland-South African border. South African soldiers are reportedly blocking Swazi students from attending schools on the South African side of the frontier. A South African immigration official, is alleged to have threatened to prosecute South African school authorities who continued to admit Swazi pupils without study permits.
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/ 13 September 2005
The United Nations has warned British Finance Minister Gordon Brown in Labour’s third term he will have to levy taxes on the better-off if the government is to meet its ambitious goal of halving child poverty by 2010. In its flagship annual study charting progress in tackling poverty, the UN highlights Britain as a country where inequality has put the brake on development.